Steepscrambler
Steepscrambler is one of the sub-types of the Beast seeming. They are Changelings who are at home in high places, and who are attuned to animals such as monkeys, raccoons, squirrels, some insects and some lizards. Their blessing is Gifted Climber. Overview Where the geography and architecture of Faerie skew toward the impossible, more specialized servants may be in demand. The tangled parapets of a mountaintop castle are alive with the movements of long-armed, agile servants who can shimmy up and down the chains and leap from spire to spire. Walls that buckle and sag without falling require surefooted sentries. The Steepscramblers are the product of these environments, having been made into animals that could navigate these heights far better than clumsy humans could. Steepscramblers often have a bit of difficulty adapting to the more mundane environments of the mortal world. The ground is just so… close. They find it comforting to have somewhere to practice their athletics, be it the neighborhood fire escapes, a forest with plenty of strong branches or a deep quarry with lots of sheer rock faces. Similar to the Skitterskulks, Steepscramblers may be mammal, reptile or arthropod. They tend to be lean and wiry, and their grip is very strong; even an Ogre might be impressed by the strength in a Steepscrambler’s handshake. Steepscramblers carry themselves with excellent balance. Their animal features are widely varied, but most often are in the hands and feet. A Steepscrambler is likely to have a raccoon’s hands whether he’s marked with the Mask or not, or the feet of a bighorn sheep even if he doesn’t possess a full set of horns. Some Steepscramblers have tails that aid them in climbing, though they aren’t strong and flexible enough to manipulate objects. Durance The Steepscramblers learned to climb in some of the most outlandish settings. Jagged cliff faces and twisted forests were only part of the story. They may have had to light the candles on chandeliers suspended from hooks 100 feet above the ballroom floor. They could have fetched books from bookcases the size of watchtowers in a gargantuan library, or been sent to collect the eggs of crows nesting in a palace’s highest parapet. Falling didn’t always mean death, no matter the height — the Steepscrambler broke, yes, but the Keeper mended the Steepscrambler’s shattered bones and organs and set her back to work. Eventually. Folklore Steepscramblers with an affinity for monkeys may reflect the whimsical yet dangerous monkey gods such as Hanuman and Sun Wukong; monkeys are tricksters in the lore of most cultures. The squirrel Ratatosk who clambered through the branches of the World Tree was also seen as a bit of a trickster. Some goat-like satyrs and gylions might be more Steepscrambler by nature, and obeah-lizards out of Jamaican folklore could be of this kith as well. Frailties Cannot turn down a wager, repelled by serpents, bane of curdled milk, cannot harm anyone daubed with clay, cannot carry an axe, may not injure a priest. References *Changeling: The Lost Rulebook, p. 102 *Winter Masques, p. 64 Category:Beast (CTL) Category:Kith (CTL)